How to save the funny things your kids say

Updated 30 October 2026 · By Rustam Guseynov, maker of MumbleBee

Every parent has a list of words they promised to remember: "pasketti", "hostipal", a first sentence, a question that made everyone laugh. Most of them are gone a year later. Here are five ways to keep them, what each one is good at, and what to write down so the memory still makes sense when your child is grown up.

The short answer

Use the method you will actually open within ten seconds of hearing something funny. If you choose an app, pick one that keeps the audio, saves your child's age with every entry and lets you export everything. Write down the exact words, the date, your child's age and one line of context. If the way they say it matters, keep the audio too, because a toddler's voice changes fast, and today's voice cannot be recorded again later.

Five ways to keep kids quotes

1. A notes app

The simplest start. Make one note per child and add each quote at the top with the date. It works well as long as you only need the words. The weak point is that a note has no idea how old your child was, and after a few years a single long note becomes hard to read.

2. Voice memos

The phone's built-in recorder is the quickest way to keep a voice. The trouble comes later: recordings pile up with automatic names, and the two seconds you care about sit inside a minute of background noise. If you use it, rename each recording right away and trim it.

3. Phone videos

A video catches the face, the timing and the giggle afterwards. It also disappears into the camera roll. Add the quote to the video's caption or keep a separate list with the date of each clip, so you can find it again.

4. A paper journal

A baby book or a small notebook feels special and makes a good gift when your child is older. It needs discipline: keep a list on your phone during the week and copy the best lines on Sunday. Take a photo of the pages now and then, since there is only one copy.

5. A kids quotes app

There are apps made just for this. Most store text, some add photos, a few record audio. Before you pick one, check three things: whether it keeps the child's voice, whether you can export everything if you ever stop using it, and what it does with your data.

What to look for in a kids quotes app

Before you put years of memories into any app, ask these questions:

• Does it keep the voice? Many apps store only text and photos. If the way your child says a word is the funny part, you need audio.
• Does it save your child's age with every entry, not just the date?
• Can you export everything? Recordings and words in a format you can open without the app. Your memories should outlast any app, ours included.
• Can you keep several children apart? One profile per child makes it easy to look back later.
• How does it share with family? A private link is safer than a public feed.
• What happens to your data? Look for no ads, no selling of data and a clear answer on where recordings are stored.
• Does it run on your family's phones? Check iPhone and Android support before you commit. MumbleBee, for example, is on iPhone today, with Android in testing.

What to write down with every quote

1. The exact words, including the mistakes. "Aminal" is the memory, "animal" is not.
2. The date and your child's age. "3 years 2 months" tells the story better than a date alone.
3. One line of context. What happened just before, who they were talking to, what they meant. Without it, many quotes stop making sense in a few years.
4. Who said it, if you have more than one child. You will not remember in ten years.

Tips that make it a habit

• Capture first, tidy later. Get the words down in the moment, add context in the evening.
• Ask for an encore. Young children often happily repeat a word if you ask what they said. That is your chance to record it.
• Keep the audio short. Two or three seconds with the word is worth more than a minute of everything around it.
• Set a weekly reminder. Five minutes on Sunday to add anything you noted during the week.
• Look back sometimes. Reading what they said a year ago is the reward that keeps the habit going.

Sharing with grandparents, safely

Grandparents love these moments. A private link or a private shared album is safer than a public post, because public posts can be copied and kept forever. As children get older, it is fair to ask them before you share what they said.

Questions